The wah-wah pedal, its undeniable impact on guitar tone history, and its own confusing roots - invented around 1965 and evolved by Thomas Organ, Vox and Clyde McCoy before Jim Dunlop claimed the Crybaby name in 1966 - is the subject of a new documentary.
Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World drops in February 2011 - you can watch the trailer above for a sneak peak.
The film looks at how engineer Brad Plunkett developed the legendary wah sound and how artists have used it to express themselves throughout its evolution. Guitar icons such as Buddy Guy, Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, Slash, and Zakk Wylde talk about how the wah has become a part of their signature sounds - while rock journalists such as Rolling Stone's Ben Fong-Torres and Guitar Player's Art Thompson explore the pedal's cultural significance.
101 best stompboxes
Very much related is Guitarist magazine's current cover feature (issue 336) - The 101 Best Stompboxes Of All Time - which is on sale now. Find out how Dunlop's Crybaby ranks against other legendary pedals including Ibanez's TS-808 TubeScreamer, EHX's Big Muff Pi and ProCo's RAT2, to name but a few.
“A unique octave bass fuzz with a built-in, 2-voice ring modulator”: The Maestro BB-1 Brassmaster is a super-rare bass octave fuzz from the ‘70s that sounds great on guitar, sells for $2,000+, and Behringer just made a $69 clone of it
“The same hand soldered through-hole construction and super rare military spec germanium transistors that were used in the original”: EarthQuaker Devices celebrates two decades of stompbox design with the Hoof Fuzz 20th Anniversary Edition
